1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable electronic device, a method, and a computer software product.
2. Description of the Related Art
A day may be divided into three main parts: rest (sleep), work, and leisure time. The periods of time spent for leisure and work are mainly determined by external factors. The way each one of us spends his or her leisure time may be determined individually, and this may also be influenced e.g. in an activating manner. Various environmental factors, such as television, DVD, the Internet, and games, greatly add to an inactive manner of spending one's leisure time.
It is a well known fact that too much physical inactivity, such as sitting and immobility, increase health problems. Inactivity results in poor condition, increased body weight, and metabolic problems which, in turn, increase risks of several different diseases, such as obesity, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension as well as disorders relating to muscles and bones. In physical inactivity, sitting equals lying, since both requires minimum muscular activity and both thus consume very little energy and present a metabolic need. According to recent research, the most significant difference between slim persons and obese persons is that overweight persons sit on average two hours longer than slim ones. For example, Levine et al., “Interindividual Variation in Posture Allocation: Possible Role in Human Obesity”, Science, January 2005, Vol. 307, p. 584 to 586, discloses that controlling the amount of time spent by an individual sitting may have a considerable effect on weight and health management as well as on the individual's desire to achieve a more active lifestyle.
For instance, the work of a typical office worker contains hardly any physical activity and, further, such a person daily spends sitting: 6 to 7 hours in the office, a total of 1 hour in the car commuting, and 3 hours while watching television. The only activity of a typical workday is e.g. a forty-minute walk before dinner. Thus, a total of time spent sitting per workday is no less than 11 to 12 hours, which considerably exceeds the recommended healthy amount.
An inactive non-workday (e.g. reading, working on a computer, minor domestic chores, watching television) contains 8 to 9 hours of sitting and only 3 hours of activity. Hence, the time spent inactively exceeds the recommended amounts. An active non-workday (e.g. golfing, shopping) may contain 5 to 6 hours of sitting as well as an equal amount of activity. Consequently, the time spent inactively remains at a recommended level, i.e. below 7 hours.
The time spent inactively by a typical user may be e.g. 74 hours per week. This amount is well above the recommended weekly maximum inactivity values. All in all, it may be stated that more often than not, the amount of time spent inactively, such as sitting, on workdays should be diminished in order to maintain a slim build and health.
People do not easily notice the amount of inactivity in their daily life. Therefore, increasing the awareness of the amount of inactivity in an individual's daily life may be even more significant for health than monitoring the activity of the individual. Various devices for monitoring physical condition do not meet these needs.